Now more than ever, technology’s impact on employee recognition is a noteworthy one. That’s because not only can technology help make rewards more current and relevant, but it also enables managers to more effectively hand out rewards for boosting morale and motivating employees. Award Concepts is at the forefront of employee recognition in the digital age. This article will describe a few ways we help our customers recognize employees using simple, and in some cases, free web-based applications.

Everyone wants to be recognized and appreciated for doing a good job. One of the easiest and most effective ways to reward your employees for no cost is to recognize them publicly for their efforts. Recognition programs with Award Concepts include the setup and maintenance of customized Recognition Portal websites. These websites are built specifically for your organization, and include great features such as bulletin boards, peer-to-peer recognition links and e-cards. Award Concepts will work with you to develop websites that fit your company’s branding requirements, and fit your company’s goals for recognition.

It’s important for organizations to realize that using the internet for recognition will help unify and build community amongst employees. As a part of these Recognition Portal websites, designated supervisors will have access to creating posts or news articles that are relevant to other managers and employees. These articles can be as simple as listing each month’s employees with anniversaries, or as detailed as an in-depth analysis of how a certain department’s productivity has been increased by a new measure at the company.

We strongly recommend the use of company e-mails and newsletters to drive employees to the community bulletin boards on your Recognition Portal websites. Here, employees and managers will engage in conversation using a familiar comment system.

The Recognition Portal websites can also be tied into any other websites your organization may currently have in place. Have a password-protected benefits website? You can link to it from the Recognition Portal websites. Do you have a company facebook or twitter account? You can also link to it from your Portal website. The internet is a vast web of pages and sites; your Recognition Portal websites can act as a central hub for all of your company’s various pre-existing websites.

In addition to our Recognition Portal websites, we also offer great services such as online surveys and customized e-cards. And one of our best tools is our 1 Minute Manager e-mail system. Sign up here and you’ll receive useful, helpful employee recognition tips in your inbox every day of the week.

Contact Award Concepts today to request a web-based demo on our online services from one of our recognition specialists.

The power of positive reinforcement and recognition for a job well done is something that everyone appreciates. Managers and supervisors know and realize this. Even the best initiatives and intentions can produce undesired results. Recently, I witnessed this first hand when reviewing the results of a survey sent to a sampling of one of our client’s awardees. Recognition practices and programs impact each individual differently, whether positively or negatively. There is no one size, fits all. It is important to appeal to the masses, yet without forgetting about the minority as well.

Consider the impact of public recognition. For some, being honored in front of one’s peers represents an ultimate high and for others being put on display is sufficient reason to deliberately underachieve. I can relate. Although I love receiving praise and recognition, I’m surprising shy and don’t like much attention drawn to me in front of a crowd. Not what you’d expect from a salesman, but it’s true. It is something that makes me uncomfortable, yet I do still enjoy the recognition…just not my preferred means. Consider this when planning for your recognition banquet or event.

Case in point:

“I just do not like going to ‘recognition’ banquets.”

and

“I did actually go, but had lots of work, speaker not interesting to me.”

Notice the usage of “I” and “me”? Banquets and events like these are not for everyone. Personally, I’ve skipped out on receptions like these in the past because I don’t feel comfortable at such events. Do I think they are not needed? Absolutely not! For some, a reception such as this is more important than an award. Hell, I even skipped my own college graduation ceremony. Really wish I hadn’t because it would have meant a lot to my mother. Even worse…I overslept for my sister’s college graduation and as I later found out that meant a lot to her. You see…recognition isn’t just service awards…recognition really can be found in all walks of life!

Take criticism to your program with a grain of salt. A common complaint when awardees are surveyed is that the awardee feels that the awards are not a good representation for their years of service. This might be a result of poor award choices provided by your service award vendor, but more likely as a result of adhering to a budget. If you’re budget is $200 at the 20 year level, but the awardee feels awards should be around $500, then no matter what the awards are, you will not satisfy and meet this person’s expectations.

Things break. Whether they are a result of the item being faulty or improper usage of the item. We know this. We realize this. We even include a note for each awardee along with their award. Yet, with each survey conducted there are always complaints about an item damaged, breaking, not working, etc. We, like the majority of vendors try to be proactive when issues like these arise, but unfortunately many of these go unheard of until survey results are given. It is important as administrators to keep have open communication with your awardees and reiterate to them that should there be any problems, they contact the service award vendor immediately. Recognition is suppose to be a time of honor and celebration, a positive moment in an employee’s life…we do not want there to be anything negative surrounding this milestone.

Case in point:

“The wine fridge was great while it was working. It broke about three months into the warranty. Heier would not work with me on a replacement. I got in touch with Award Concepts, Kayla, and she worked hard to get a replacement. It took several months to get a replacement because she had to find a substitute wine fridge. I received the sub about a month ago and everything seems to be working well. Kudos to Kayla and all her help.”

When contact has been made and notice given of an item defect we will go through hoops for your awardees. We strive to make the recognition period a positive reflection of the goodwill of your organization to your employee.

What you see is what you get…well, sort of. Unless you are currently (or have previously been) in procession of the item and can “play” with it you will never know 100% what it is you are receiving based upon an image and description in an award catalog or online. We try to provide quality imagery, descriptions, and dimensions, however that sometimes isn’t enough.

Case in point:

It met my expectations. Having said that, I chose the wall clock. My father, who I consider a master carpenter, made many clocks including grandfather clocks for our home while I was living at home so you would have to really jump over hoops for me to be overly impressed with any clock so don’t take offense. Wish the chimes had been more pleasing to
the ear.

This individual obviously had high expectations considering their father had hand-crafted many clocks. They were honest in their feedback and even stated that it would take a lot for them to be overly impressed with a clock. It is unfortunate that they were unhappy with the chime of the clock. Situations like these will arise. We are currently looking into the ability of adding an audio file to items like this so one would be able to hear the chime of a clock before ordering. Again, this was the only complaint about the chime of a clock of the survey respondents, but it provides an area to improve.

When I first reviewed the results of the survey I was disappointed in the results. We strive for perfection so was quite critical. After another look and a different perspective I was able to see the remarks differently and more open minded. I’m hoping that this article demonstrated the type of mindset you must have when reviewing and interpreting your recognition program’s survey results.